State of USH - What's Next?

[Jerroddragon]

One of the biggest complaints about Universal is that they have gotten too clone happy with their attractions. Hollywood needs more unique experiences or else it’s literally just UOR’s little brother with a working studio.

I wanna give them props for not cloning SLoP, but at the same time I get the feeling that it would already be under construction in Orlando if the franchise was selling more merchandise at USH.

I think this ultimately may be the problem with Nintendo too. Obviously it’s way too big of an IP to just not bring to USH, but the park is getting the smallest version by far and likely won’t have any exclusive Nintendo attractions. Once Epic Universe opens, SNW at USH will be an afterthought.

Clones have their splace...Simpsons land, HP and Nintendo are all welcome clones

As someone who doesn't want to go to every Universal Park, I'm fine with clone as long a they are good....Disney used to give us crap like Winnie the Pooh or Buzz which to me were bad mainly because the rides just were meh (yes, I know many love buzz but can't hold a candle to TS Mainia)

If USO gets Zelda/Pokemon I want those to...because they are great Ip's

 

[TheUniC6]

Universal Studios Hollywood feels like a property that could shine brightly, if the executives made advances to make the entire experience more like not that of Universal Orlando Resort..but rather, Universal Studios Japan. Notice the differentiating I am placing on the two.

Much like how Universal Beijing Resort is benefitting off of the similar structure of Universal Orlando Resort, Universal Studios Hollywood needs to go forward and get things more along the lines of Universal Studios Japan. A feat, that would require a lot as it stands, especially given that of Hollywood's larger struggle towards being on Studio Property (And dealing with the respective Studio City and Burbank nearby for residentials).

The limits of the park expansion as it is, lies in that of the geographical placement of the park and studio, alongside large portions of the park being situated on the hillside. For the time being, the limits of park expansion seems to be currently at that of the current Studio Tour Plaza, and when they get them--Soundstages 33-37, Soundstages 41-44, the rehearsal hall, and currently in their possession that of Soundstage 29 and the plot being used for construction trailers for the park. If they wish to expand further than they are in the lower lot; it would likely need to deal with the subject of Bud Westmore building (Which I have been repeatedly told will be nigh impossible due to the technical aspects that are in that building).

Cannibalization, is going to happen. And I think the only way it doesn't, is if Universal goes and uses the hillside like Genting Skyworld's. But that would only really be for the Studio Tour plaza and the side of French Street being that of Moulin Rouge. There's really no-where else to go after that.

As far as Hotels, due to the NBCUniversal Creative Campus taking over the spot currently held for the initially planned Fum Lung hotel, that really only leaves the hotel that would be located over at the Globe. That's not to say--they couldn't do a second hotel. But that'd likely mean losing the ET Parking Structure expansion if they do that (which is something I believe has a shot). They could additionally go in and buy up hotels near Universal Studios Hollywood, and go from there in demolishing and starting from scratch with new Loews hotels.

If I was Universal? I'd look at this:

• In November of this year, begin work on the next project of Universal Studios Hollywood. Have it be in French Street, with Parisian Courtyard taking the blunt hit of the demolition. Fully complete that side of the park to be Illumination centric, with a Minion walkthrough attraction in TWDA, and a version of Sing: On Tour. Have it ready for 2024

• Prepare for LA2028. With LA2024, plans were in place for NBCUniversal to go fully at hand to be the Media Hub for the international news stations covering the LA Summer Olympics. If that is still a go, then it makes complete sense for Universal to go fully in on it. Get the Globe Hotel and a potential second hotel over at the ET Parking Structure expansion plot built ASAP. Get the additional soundstages over at Red Sea built ASAP. Get the park ready for the Olympics with "Per year" capital, ASAP. They need to be aggressive, now, because they have a unique potential to be The place for LA tourism for summer of that year. Especially if it's heavily promoted and heavily done to stress both the Studio and Park to be working alongside eachother--to be as gung-ho as they can be.

• Separate the NBCUniversal Studio Tour from the parks. Yes, I get it, it strips USH of it's Studio identity, but it's the biggest roadblock Universal Studios Hollywood has for the future. Nostalgia has not been Universal's noted strong suit. And in my eyes, that's actually completely fine. The NBCUniversal Studio Tour needs a complete revamp from the top down. Make it a second gate if you will, having it be the VIP Tour combined with the park tour. Keep Kong 360 3D and Supercharged, but make them standout experiences for the "New" NBCUniversal Studio Tour. Incorporate the filmmaking experience with walking down sets and walking in soundstages unused. Make it about the group experience, even if that is done at a premium.

Outside of these three tenet thoughts? Lower Lot and Studio Tour Plaza (and the hillside it's on). I am hoping, Nintendo lights a fire under Universal's ass much like Transformers did. Because at this point, the park desperately needs it. That isn't even going into the event's of the Holidays at USH and Halloween Horror Nights, but I wanted to get what I thought would be..the "larger" points, out of the way.

But considering how large this post is, I'll just keep it contained to this, for now.

This sounds cool. From looking at Google maps the Walking Dead show building is also part of/attached to the StarBucks and some other stores. If they copy over the minions moving walkway attraction from Florida over, they would probably have to close down the retail and StarBucks and expand it into those. As for what could be coming in 2023 assuming SNW opens in late 2022, would more than likely be a new film for the DW theater. Or they could give us SNW and a new DW theater film for 2023. Also aren't there rumored plans for theme park expansion where some soundstages are now?

 

[Milla4Prez66]

Clones have their splace...Simpsons land, HP and Nintendo are all welcome clones

As someone who doesn't want to go to every Universal Park, I'm fine with clone as long a they are good....Disney used to give us crap like Winnie the Pooh or Buzz which to me were bad mainly because the rides just were meh (yes, I know many love buzz but can't hold a candle to TS Mainia)

If USO gets Zelda/Pokemon I want those to...because they are great Ip's

They don’t have to make the same exact attraction in every park with every IP. If anything, different attractions based on major IPs gives people a reason to travel to both places.

Also, I wouldn’t call Simpsons land a clone. Hollywood’s is very different than USF’s version outside of the ride and I would argue one of the few things that USH has the better version of (Jurassic World being the other).

 

[Viator]

This sounds cool. From looking at Google maps the Walking Dead show building is also part of/attached to the StarBucks and some other stores. If they copy over the minions moving walkway attraction from Florida over, they would probably have to close down the retail and StarBucks and expand it into those. As for what could be coming in 2023 assuming SNW opens in late 2022, would more than likely be a new film for the DW theater. Or they could give us SNW and a new DW theater film for 2023. Also aren't there rumored plans for theme park expansion where some soundstages are now?

I don't necessarily think they have to do the stand-through in this case. The building's already known as a walk-through, there's ways you can make that still a walkthrough (And it also benefits that SoCal would've already of had an experience like it with the previously existing Special Ops: Infected).

Keep it walk-through and a bit of a smaller version, but use that to the advantage for the sake of a walkthrough.

 

[Jerroddragon]

They don’t have to make the same exact attraction in every park with every IP. If anything, different attractions based on major IPs gives people a reason to travel to both places.

Also, I wouldn’t call Simpsons land a clone. Hollywood’s is very different than USF’s version outside of the ride and I would argue one of the few things that USH has the better version of (Jurassic World being the other).

Depends on the ride...the Hogwarts ride is amazing and very glad they didn't try a new one. also while the layout is different it has the same food and locations just in different places so we might have different definitions of what "clones" are but to me its when they use the same ride tech/assets and bring it to another park...Pirates over in WDW is different layout but still a clone of Disneyland Pirates ride

It will depend on what rides but to me MK looks fun and sooooo many people on here are bashing it before riding it, I bet that thing has 90+ mins lines for years to come and anyone who thinks you will just want to ride it once is funny to me, it literally has a score counter..lol

 

[baconwhiskers]

Also, I wouldn’t call Simpsons land a clone. Hollywood’s is very different than USF’s version outside of the ride and I would argue one of the few things that USH has the better version of (Jurassic World being the other).

Yeah the USH Simpsons land is way better even without the spinner.

USH also has the better Forbidden Journey and Despicable Me (even though it’s not a good ride). Transformers is the same both coasts but the USF entrance is better.

 

[Uni-Fan]

So I wanted to take this time to try and discuss the current state of USH. It’s strengths, it’s weaknesses, what it’s doing right and what it could do better.

Let’s start by going into the park, I find the entrance way is very impressive, it’s universal’s own smaller version of Main Street and I would love to see the theme somewhat extended into New York Street so it thematically continues onto Dreamworks Theater.

On that note, let’s talk about Dreamworks Theater which is awesome. I love the Kung Fu Panda show but it is too short, under five minutes!! I hope universal delivers on its promise to change this show, it’ll be four years with this show in the spring so leaves me to wonder how long this will take and when they do, hopefully it’ll be least a ten minute show.

Now let’s go into Illumination land and start with Minion Mayhem. Minion Mayhem is not one of Universal’s best rides but you definitely need rides for families so this fits nicely in that category. My only problem is the screen which is just so small and kinda takes you out of the ride, you just don’t feel immersed. The picture is super crisp and is one of the things I love about the ride but without the 3D aspect, the clearness of the picture cannot fully be enjoyed and at least with the 3D glasses, your view is more obscured and you feel more immersed into the minion world. This I think should be returned because of this reason as I’m not the biggest 3-D fan as I feel Universal does it too much but in this aspect, it works.

Secret Life of Pets is a great ride, they did wonders with the limited space they had. It’s a great ride for families and a nice change of pace by using an animatronic heavy dark ride.

Super Silly Fun Land is what you expect, much needed enjoyment for families with small kids that come to Universal. Hopefully they can add another small flat ride maybe like a small carousel, just so Universal has a little more to do for the little ones.

Waterworld is a great show, my absolute favorite show the theme park franchise has ever produced. It’s a people eater and always has been even after 27 years. If it were to ever go, it would be a sad day but at the end of the day, Universal does need more rides and needs to try and meet guest demand, they are super limited on space considering in order to make a ride, they have to tear down a working soundstage.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is an awesome land, it could use another ride, that’s for sureTowards the back of the land, it feels less realistic because you can start to see buildings with painted on trees and is just not very convincing. I think they should put more trees around to try and cover the sight lines.

Forbidden Journey is a great ride and my only beef with it is that screens Are just too blurry at times and not very clear. I thought when they took the glasses away, they converted it to 4K but it certainly doesn’t look 4K.

The Simpsons ride is a little annoying, I love the Simpsons but I feel like the ride never did the show justice. Back to the Future was far more of a testament to it’s franchise. Overall I think the ride should be replaced and IMO, I think the ride should be gutted. The park already has a motion simulator type ride and it makes no sense to have two in such a small park. I know the space is awkward and part of the building is off a cliff but they can use another ride system maybe like what Disney did with Flight of Passage.

Special Effects Stage needs to put in a different show and maybe something unique with action, just hopefully not a Fast and the Furious show.

Animal Actors Stage is a cute show and one of the few attractions that still focuses on the movie studio aspect of the park.

The Studio Tour definitely needs an upgrade and can be cleaned up a little. I think the host aspect could get dropped and maybe just do a movie trivia type deal and it could always be different. The host thing just gets too repetitive. Fast and Furious Supercharged has terrible graphics and looks worse than a video game, the acting is pretty bad and the over the top scenes are cringe at best. I don’t know what they could ever replace it with but it does the tour no favors.

Jurassic World has proven to be a popular update. A great update in my opinion, nothing critical to say here.

Revenge of the Mummy is an average ride, the ride portion is way too short and leaves the guest underwhelmed and tops it with an even more underwhelming ending. Hopefully the ride is replaced with something a little more in line with our expectations.

Transformers is a great attraction, maybe an update is in order at some point since it is screen based and easier to do.

This leaves me with overall events at the park which seems like there isn’t any. The park needs to keep the people coming back with Harry Potter events, character events, Simpsons events, etc. they just need something that gonna keep the guest interested to come to the park.

 

[Ron101]

Seeing all these nighttime shows returning at Disneyland (World of Color, Fantasmic, and Electrical Parade) makes me sad that USH has nothing to get people to stay later and warrant being open later.

 

[DinosaursRoar]

If USO gets Zelda/Pokemon I want those to...because they are great Ip's

Yeah, it would be great because if there's only Mario series (Donkey Kong series count because they're still in the Mario franchise) in these lands, the Super Nintendo World lands should instead be called Super Mario World (not to be confused with the SNES game with the same name). I would like it if Zelda, Kirby, and/or Pokemon were implemented in the Super Nintendo World lands to keep the name relevant to the lands.

 

[salismetho]

Given that rumors have pointed to the Chinese New Year plans were cancelled as a result of pandemic staffing shortages, HHN rumored to get a much bigger budget, new coaster, new tram tour stop, new show(?), exclusive game in SNW, and so much more, I thought it was time to give this thread a revisit. I have become very optimistic about the future of the park; since attendance started to soar, instead of just taking the profits, they've actually invested the money back into the park. New photo-ops on French Street, and the return of characters that haven't been out in years are just some examples. And now, we'll be seeing some seasonal food offerings New Seasonal Drinks available at Cocina Mexicana at Universal Studios Hollywood
Anyways, just thought I'd share my optimism about the future of the park, it seems they are really trying

 

[Freak]

Thrilled to see our USH is back on track into becoming a great park! I really hope the rumors are true about HHN getting a bigger budget. Pretty tired of all of those black walls.

 

[Jerroddragon]

Honestly for me these rumors kinda kill my excitement for the park

I was just hoping for more Nintendo and Harry Potter over what we are getting but sure these attractions will still be popular

 

[Brian G.]

Honestly for me these rumors kinda kill my excitement for the park

I was just hoping for more Nintendo and Harry Potter over what we are getting but sure these attractions will still be popular

:huh:

 

[Freak]

Honestly for me these rumors kinda kill my excitement for the park

I was just hoping for more Nintendo and Harry Potter over what we are getting but sure these attractions will still be popular

So…..

-Fast and Furious roller coaster
-Bourne show
-New tram attraction
-Allegedly bigger budget for HHN

….and your response is “eh”?

 

[Nico]

Honestly for me these rumors kinda kill my excitement for the park

I was just hoping for more Nintendo and Harry Potter over what we are getting but sure these attractions will still be popular

Why? Because you like those IP more or a different reason?

 

[Jerroddragon]

So…..

-Fast and Furious roller coaster
-Bourne show
-New tram attraction
-Allegedly bigger budget for HHN

….and your response is “eh”?

HHN great
New Tram, I'm excited to see what it is...but they haven't even said what is is...so will wait to get really hyped but I loveee westerns

I just....like dislike FF soooo much its low effect films and while MCU is also fun the actors and writers most of the time try...like the FF ride we have now is a joke Van D doesn't even try to act, like your getting paid million TRY TO ACT. People have seen my rant about this series before...I just dont care for it....but know normal people like it

Bourne - Cool, like not against it but not excited either now people like the books but feel the movies never caught me like Bond

From rumors, I was hoping for Nintendoland...then (dream works theater being updated intbetween) DK Coaster, then was hoping the Tram some major updates including a new narrator along with the rumored Sing show, then Harry Potter new land and new ride and then Pokemon to top it off before 2028

I'm just someone who see the value of Pokemon and Potter Merch and think these other rides while fine....just dont make me excited.

A Pokemon land where I can buy something and train Pokemon then use them to fight in a raid/ride is 10000000 times more exicting to me then a FF coaster

 

[Nico]

HHN great
New Tram, I'm excited to see what it is...but they haven't even said what is is...so will wait to get really hyped but I loveee westerns

I just....like dislike FF soooo much its low effect films and while MCU is also fun the actors and writers most of the time try...like the FF ride we have now is a joke Van D doesn't even try to act, like your getting paid million TRY TO ACT. People have seen my rant about this series before...I just dont care for it....but know normal people like it

Bourne - Cool, like not against it but not excited either now people like the books but feel the movies never caught me like Bond

From rumors, I was hoping for Nintendoland...then (dream works theater being updated intbetween) DK Coaster, then was hoping the Tram some major updates including a new narrator along with the rumored Sing show, then Harry Potter new land and new ride and then Pokemon to top it off before 2028

I'm just someone who see the value of Pokemon and Potter Merch and think these other rides while fine....just dont make me excited.

A Pokemon land where I can buy something and train Pokemon then use them to fight in a raid/ride is 10000000 times more exicting to me then a FF coaster

Makes sense, but these rumored rides don’t mean that nothing else will come. The rumor of the rollercoaster alone is pointing to a more aggressive USH strategy at play. There was a time (6 months ago) where fans were both clamoring, and pessimistic about the prospects.

What youre describing is A LOT of space - 3 full lands. That doesn’t come overnight in a park that is landlocked. It’s also clear that Hollywood is doing whatever it can to free up future real estate.

Overall, it does seem like this is based on your personal IP preference. New rides, of varying types, is generally a good step for a park.

 

[salismetho]

HHN great
New Tram, I'm excited to see what it is...but they haven't even said what is is...so will wait to get really hyped but I loveee westerns

I just....like dislike FF soooo much its low effect films and while MCU is also fun the actors and writers most of the time try...like the FF ride we have now is a joke Van D doesn't even try to act, like your getting paid million TRY TO ACT. People have seen my rant about this series before...I just dont care for it....but know normal people like it

Bourne - Cool, like not against it but not excited either now people like the books but feel the movies never caught me like Bond

From rumors, I was hoping for Nintendoland...then (dream works theater being updated intbetween) DK Coaster, then was hoping the Tram some major updates including a new narrator along with the rumored Sing show, then Harry Potter new land and new ride and then Pokemon to top it off before 2028

I'm just someone who see the value of Pokemon and Potter Merch and think these other rides while fine....just dont make me excited.

A Pokemon land where I can buy something and train Pokemon then use them to fight in a raid/ride is 10000000 times more exicting to me then a FF coaster

Sing show over bourne is a take, but we also don't know what the dates are for this. For all we know, these two attractions (assuming rumors are true) could be done 2025, giving time for at least one new E-ticket. If nothing else, it excites me that the park is actually trying to do new stuff, and listen to fans. The Furious coaster sounds like it will do both of those, and well
EDIT: Seems Nico said basically what I said right before, woops!

 

[Jerroddragon]

Makes sense, but these rumored rides don’t mean that nothing else will come. The rumor of the rollercoaster alone is pointing to a more aggressive USH strategy at play. There was a time (6 months ago) where fans were both clamoring, and pessimistic about the prospects.

What youre describing is A LOT of space - 3 full lands. That doesn’t come overnight in a park that is landlocked. It’s also clear that Hollywood is doing whatever it can to free up future real estate.

Overall, it does seem like this is based on your personal IP preference. New rides, of varying types, is generally a good step for a park.

Tram area needs to go and I'd lose WW if it ment we got more Potter.

My main concern is Universal has the Nintendo theme parks rights and I'm not going to see a Pokemon land for over then years...that should be a Priority. You get a Pokemon land open and you will make millions more a year from Merch and easily if you play it right have many locals hooked to your park...a Pokemon real life raid/ride where you can scan your Pokeball and use Pokemon you caught on Pokemon Go/in the parks....you'd have me there almost every weekend and many others to

I know many think Pokemon Go is dead but its still making bank 904 million dollars world wide. So to me thats the fear is them pushing these boring IPs when you have goldmine IPs


Also while duh Borne show over sing but with what I was hoping Sing would be like a small thing just added, while they add are adding more of the bigger stuff.

 

[highdefrex]

Pokemon may be raking in money as an IP, but Fast and Furious, whether you like it or not, is a billion-dollar franchise that's still going strong after two decades. Of course Universal is going to prioritize representing their own IP in their own park. You may find it a boring IP, but... clearly the world doesn't think so, otherwise the films wouldn't be so popular and Universal wouldn't be trying to fix their Supercharged mistake by giving the property better ride representation. F&F is a goldmine IP.